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Topic: Not off to a good start (Read 4515 times)

Well we, my son and I, went to help a guy extract honey but he was not home. That was not the bad part. We had just invested in a bee suit for my son and he was carrying it to change into. Just as he walked up the drive he was stung on the ear. I scraped the stinger out right away and retreated back to the vehicle. He put the suit on and seemed like super man. I hope this does not set him back! Funny, I did not have my suit on, ordered the wrong size, and never got touched. I have been there several times and never even thought I was going to get stung. I guess he had bad luck.

We cant figure out why. I know he didnt swat at them. he said there was one on his head so he stopped. The other snuck in and got him. Could have been a nija bee. Anyway I went back and tried to help harvest just using a veil. No such luck. They snuck in the veil and got me. When I got the veil off more got me. I guess there is good out of everything. I now know I am not deathly allergic to bees. That is one question I need answered. I have never been stung by a bee until today and 18 of the things got me. I am not going to skimp out on buying a good, no a great bee suit.

We cant figure out why. I know he didnt swat at them. he said there was one on his head so he stopped. The other snuck in and got him. Could have been a nija bee. Anyway I went back and tried to help harvest just using a veil. No such luck. They snuck in the veil and got me. When I got the veil off more got me. I guess there is good out of everything. I now know I am not deathly allergic to bees. That is one question I need answered. I have never been stung by a bee until today and 18 of the things got me. I am not going to skimp out on buying a good, no a great bee suit.

Could it possibly be a floral scented shampoo that drew the bee to his head area?

If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. - Robert X. Cringely

I was reading in another post that some other people are seeing their bees more aggresive, thought to be fall coming on. Could be a reason. I know we did not smoke the Bees so Im sure that would have helped. ANyway my daughter had her fun by scraping the stingers from my neck and head. She was so proud showing me how big some of the stingers were. I wil learn as I go and will keep reading everyones post. I have leared a great deal already by looking at all the post. Thanks!

You need to smoke the bees before working them or they will at some point get you pretty good. Stinging is what they do when they don't want to be handled, we cannot read bee minds, no matter how hard we try. Protect the face, and perhaps if they are aggressive, consistently, wear long pants and long sleeve shirt. But SMOKE them first.

Make sure you are comfortable while working your bees. I JPs answer. Have that smoker lit and next to you. Even if you dont smoke them while pulling honey off, it can put them into a stinging frenzy where you litterally have hundreds of them trying to sting you. Thats a pretty good time to smoke the crap out of them and where they are stinging you. I think the smoke really helps cover up the stinging ferimone to help end a frenzy.

You know I didnt get stung once this year pulling honey off the supers. It was the stragglers in the extracting room that got me. about 5 stings a day in there. I guess they dont like it when you grab a frame of honey and squicsh them a bit. They tend to retalliate with the working end of their defense system. Dang that hurts on the fingers and palm.

So I guess I will ask this. What is the best suit to buy, not getting into the $$. I was looking at the old english free standing suit with zipper veil from Mann Lake for 62.95. Good deal? Any other suits or places to get them?

I've heard the "old man" is having health issues. So I'm not sure of the situation there. But that is the best suit, bar none. It's like having air conditioning. It's literally ventilated and still as sting proof as any suit ever. (none are stingproof as bees are too ingenious and determined.)

I have a golden bee suit which is my go to suit when dealing with aggressive bees or hornets, bumbles, crocodiles, whatever, if you need full protection. Its a heavy vented suit. I also recently purchased a suit from honeymoon apiaries which is based off of the golden bee suit. Its a little cheaper in price and the hardwear is not as heavy duty as the golden bee but still a fine suit. My #1 attire when doing cutouts is a jacket with attached hood(zippered), from Dadant for I believe in the forty something range. Its a very good buy. I wear long pants with it. For working my hives I just wear a hat and veil.

My favorite is this suit from BeeCare. It's not that expensive at $119.00, fits well, the hood and veil are great. The Golden Bee Suit is the best, everyone raves about it, but it's expensive and supplies are more than limited.

i have the mann lake jacket with the zip on veil. very good and a good price. can't see buying the whole suit. jeans do me fine. got one up the pant leg once, but that's easy to fix.

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I hear the Golden Bee suit is the best of the best, but with a big price. I'm poor and couldn't shell out that much just for 2 hives. I've been VERY happy with my suit from Better Bee. It's their "Premium Beesuit" and goes for $55 with either a round or square zippered vale. I'm also a big+tall guy (see pic on left) and they where one of the only companies that offered suits sized extra extra small all the way up to 7 XL!!! They even offer it in Long sizes.My only complaint are the access slits near the pockets so you can reach into your suit and get your car keys out of your jeans. Bees can TOTALLY get inside! I just had my wife break out the sewing machine and put strips of velcro which took care of the problem.

Sean Kelly

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"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste" - Proverbs 24:13

Ok I am having troubles finding the golden bee suit. I found one website but that was it. I tried the Golden Bee products and their website did not offer bee suits. I will take a look at the Beecare.

There is no website. This suit is made by an elderly couple who seem to have limited resources. I think Michael Bush indicated the old man was ill right at the moment. In any event, here is the contact info: